


Broken

by yodepalma



Series: Schmoopfest 2016 [6]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crack, Dragon Roy Mustang, Dragons, F/M, Humor, I REGRET NOTHING, M/M, Schmoop, this is part of a much larger 'verse, which may eventually see the light of day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 09:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6233020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yodepalma/pseuds/yodepalma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragons are notoriously territorial.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a much, much larger 'verse that I haven't fully plotted out yet, but I got this little scene stuck in my head and...yeah. Suffice it to say that this belongs to a space opera soulmate AU with shapeshifting dragons and possibly magic aaaand you can maybe see where things are getting a tiny bit complicated. Anyway it's pretty much my favorite thing ever and I might just cut it up into bitty scenes and stuff eventually if I ever figure it all out BUT ANYWAY. I promise the rest of it isn't quite this cracky, but this scene omg.
> 
> So if you're really interested in the possibility of me actually writing the rest of the 'verse let me know and I'll try to work harder on plotting it out I guess? Right now I'm mostly just poking at it in my head.

_Broken_

There was something to be said for having a dragon-shapeshifter as your soulmate. For instance: nobody ever dared to mock you or start a fight with you again after making the mistake the first time. Granted, this worked out in Al’s favor more often than Ed’s; Ed had usually taken care of any issues before _his_ soulmate even realized anything had gone wrong, because, well, because Ed. (Al didn’t like confrontation in any case, and Riza rarely had to turn dragon so much as she sort of exuded a terrifying aura of the _possibility_ of turning if, you know, the offender really wanted her to. Riza was terrifying. It was the best.)

But sometimes, sometimes Ed was actually taken off-guard, or even, and this was hard to imagine, hurt by something someone had said. It didn’t happen often, but when he _was_ hit, he was hit hard—and this was when the aforementioned shapeshifting soulmate came in handy. Al had missed whatever had been said this time, hadn’t been paying attention because Riza had been talking and she was usually a lot more interesting than whatever Ed and Roy were arguing about at the time, but he hadn’t missed the entire bar going silent or the sudden white-knuckled grip Ed had on his tumbler. When Al noticed the way his brother was angling his body to try to hide his right arm under the table, he had nearly gotten out of his seat himself to show the people around them just what a mere human could do.

But then Roy’s eyes had turned dark and he’d stood up—and kept standing, or stretching, or _something_ (Al never had been able to describe the change), and suddenly there was a dragon where there’d been a man, surrounded by a few broken tables to make room for all of the space he was now taking up.

Roy stretched his neck over the stupefied crowd, snorted a little bit of fire over their heads, and over the sound of the subsequent screaming, growled, “What did you just say about my little human soulmate?”

“Who the fuck are you calling little, you overgrown lizard?” Ed snarled weakly, but it was mostly reflex. He was still looking a little downcast, hugging his prosthetic arm to himself and not touching Roy, and Al wanted so badly to run forward and comfort him, but he didn’t dare. Brother or not, dragons were notoriously territorial.

“My love,” Roy said, now craning his neck down to nuzzle Ed’s hair, “at the moment, you’re all much the same size to me. Tiny. Miniature. Infinitesimal.”

“One more fucking word,” Ed growled, “and it’s not these assholes who’re gonna have to worry about what I’m gonna do to ‘em.”

He still lifted a hand to rub at Roy’s snout, and the rumbling growl that emerged deep from Roy’s chest was more of a purr. Roy shifted his weight to only three of his massive paws, and he lifted the fourth one to use a single claw to gently push Ed’s ponytail over a shoulder. It uncovered the name written in the ancient script of the dragons on the back of his neck, a name that any man should know.

“Oh, shit,” one of the people who must’ve been teasing Ed said, and a small group of three men started trying to back away from them. Roy barely looked up before he was slamming both paws behind them to cage them in, and he grinned down at them with smoke curling from his jaws. Ed cracked the knuckles of his real hand, grinning coldly as he stalked toward them himself.

“Hey,” he said, “why don’t I show you just what a broken human toy can do?”

Al watched Ed start throwing the men around with some bemusement, wondering if he should step in and help, but Riza took that moment to hand him a little carton of popcorn. Where she’d gotten it, he wasn’t sure, and honestly probably didn’t want to know.

“How long until Roy gets bored and lights somebody’s pants on fire?” Al asked casually. Riza wrapped her arms around his waist, nibbling demurely on a piece of popcorn that he offered her.

“Now,” she said once she was done, and a second later somebody went running behind the bar screaming. Two other men followed him, picked him up by the armpits, and dunked his butt into the dish-cleaning water. Then they all took one last terrified look at Ed and Roy wreaking havoc on everyone who was left, and bolted out the back door. Al sighed. Another bar they'd be banned from for life.

“Well, at least the beer was bad.”


End file.
